How can argument maps be used for debate moderation? In this post three short “live reconstruction” case studies from 2007, 2011 and 2014 are presented. These cases show that the challenges of the approach are not so much of a technical but of a methodological nature. Even if the technology works perfectly it is difficult to get the conditions right so that the “live reconstruction” is more than just a nice gimmick.

A live reconstruction at the future conference of the German green party.

It’s not obvious how to present an argument map that consists in dozens of arguments. That’s because, in a talk, you want to comment both on the macro structure of the debate, providing an initial overview, as well as on individual arguments featured in the map.

Do you ponder using argumentation software such as Argunet, but have not taken a course in argumentation theory or logic yet? Or do you just want to refresh you argument analysis skills? There’s plenty of learning material on the web that helps you to improve you critical thinking skills. This post features and comments on three free online courses.

Since October 2012, Ralf Grötker from Debattenprofis has been conducting a media experiment involving argument maps and swarm intelligence. In the so-called Faktencheck (Factcheck) series, Grötker sets up and moderates online forums on controversial issues (e.g., “boycott of textiles — helpful or not?”). Debattenprofis use argument maps to aggregate the discussions. In a recent article Grötker sums up his experience so far.

It’s been a while since our last update to our site or software. So let’s do both at once. Let me introduce you first to our new site and then to the new version of Argunet Editor.

Relaunch

We decided to simplify things: one page for the editor, one for our upcoming browser widget and one for our new blog. This will make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. And it will make it easier for us to maintain the site. Did I say “new blog”?

Yes, a brand-new blog!

While we were busy deploying Argunet in exciting new projects and trying out unreleased cool features, this site lay dormant for years. With this new blog we want to change that. Next week we will begin to post regularly about everything related to Argunet, argument maps and argumentation theory in general. So watch out for new posts!Continue reading…

Argunet Blog

A Blog About Argumentation Theory

We are a team of philosophers with expertise in reconstructing, analysing and teaching argumentation. Over the years we have developed a couple of tools to facilitate our work. At the Argunet blog, we share and discuss our experience so far.